


Day's Eye

by cuddlesome



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Flower Crowns, Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, Friendship/Love, Implied Memory Loss, Male-Female Friendship, so much fluff you could drown in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-08 20:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6871540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlesome/pseuds/cuddlesome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben seemed even more morose than usual as Rey engaged in the seemingly innocuous act of making flower crowns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day's Eye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dragimal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragimal/gifts).



> This is a birthday gift for my sweet girlfriend inspired by [ this art she drew me for my own birthday](http://dragimalsdaydreams.tumblr.com/post/144452260417/a-late-birthday-present-for-my-dear-wife) and a spiritual sequel to [ an art/fic combo from Valentine's Day.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033847)

Rey loved her friends and she loved plants, especially flowering ones. Thus, making flower crowns with Finn, Poe, and BB-8 in the wilderness of D'Qar made for a perfect pastime in between missions for the Resistance.

Ben, whom Rey had also recently begun to consider her friend, tagged along. He seemed more interested in ripping up grass in his hands than anything else, an echo of his new habit of shredding flimsiplasts when he was upset about something--which he was, more often than not.

Rey found that she took naturally to putting together flowers with the same preciseness that she picked apart starships. Before, she had only ever seen the one dilapidated flower she kept in her AT-AT that she dared not pick. Every time the blossom withered away she grew worried it wouldn’t come back, even going so far as to give up some of her precious rations of water to keep the plant alive. In D’Qar, though, there were an abundance to choose from and Rey had been assured the rainy season would have them all grow back. After learning how to tie together the wreaths from Poe’s squadron, she made a habit of making and giving them as presents. Even General Leia seemed pleased with the crown Rey made for her with different kinds of crocuses.

On this trip she sought out daisies, heeding BB-8’s chittered warnings to stay away from the poisonous plants in the woods. She rejoined the group where they sat on the ground in a clearing.

Disassembly and reassembly of blasters was the most delicate work Finn had ever done. The dexterity required for this activity was lost on him, so Poe lent him a hand. Together they made a flower crown that ended up small enough that it looked more like a bracelet than anything else when they were finished. After a moment of consideration, Finn draped it over BB-8’s dome. The droid let out a surprised series of beeps and titters as a blossom fell over the primary photoreceptor.

Ben stayed sullen, sparing them a glance every once in awhile in between grabbing fistfuls of grass. He always seemed to have his face fixed into a pout, full lips turned downward and eyes drooping. At that moment, though, he looked especially moody. Rey knew better than to ask about it while other people were around. It would only result in him getting defensive.

The only people who seemed to have Ben’s cautious trust as of yet were the General and Rey herself. He skulked around the Resistance base after Rey since his return home. She became used to his presence in the Force—a small, tingling flicker of Light that rose to a destructive blaze when he got angry. The charred black evidence of the Dark Side still clung to him. It became familiar to have his presence near, something that would have discomforted her immeasurably if he was still attempting to convert her to the Dark Side instead of the reality of him coming back to the Light.

She wondered what it looked like to onlookers to see him following behind her like a lost puppy that doubled as a guard dog. Whenever she met up with large groups of Resistance fighters, her oversized shadow left. They still looked at Ben with suspicion and disgust that she did not entirely blame them for.

Although he had switched back to using his birth name, there were many things about him that stayed the same as when he went by Kylo Ren. Some Rey could accept. His insistence on wearing clothes only with the limited color palette of gray and black amused her more than anything else. He enjoyed fighting for sport with stylish, swaggering flourishes. Rey did not understand that altogether due to her experiences with combat always being out of necessity. Still, he seemed to get some gratification out of it so she would spar with him sometimes. Other things about him, though, she wished would change more to match his conversion. Especially his temper.

She could feel that little Light in him, soft as a candle’s, building into a flare as time went on. The grass around him was almost completely ravaged by now. Rey rolled her eyes and sighed. How could he be getting so upset over something as innocent and juvenile as making wreaths of flowers? Ben acted more like he was ten years her junior instead of senior a lot of the time.

As it became clear the sun was beginning to set, Poe and Finn stood up, dusting themselves off and depositing their remaining flower crowns on top of BB-8.

“You three go, I have a few more flowers I need to match together,” Rey said, gesturing to her pile of daisies. “We won’t be long.”

“Are you sure? It could be dangerous out here.” Finn glanced at Ben.

Ben took note of the thinly veiled warning and glowered. “What do you mean by that?”

Rey reached out to pat Ben’s leg. “I’m glad you’re concerned for Ben’s safety, but I can protect him if anything bad happens.”

Poe snorted and Finn attempted to school a sudden grin into a more serious expression. Ben, for his part, relaxed somewhat at her touch and looked away.

Poe looped an arm around Finn’s shoulders. “Rey’s right, buddy. Ben doesn’t have anything to worry about with her here. Just in case of emergency, though…”

He reached into his jacket pocket, then produced his comm and tossed it to Rey. She caught it and pocketed it with a smile at Poe, who winked back. While she knew she could handle herself fine and Ben Solo didn’t have nearly the same violent streak in him that Kylo Ren did, it was nice to know that her friends cared.

Poe and Finn departed for the base with plans to watch a holovid. BB-8, wearing four flower bracelets on their dome, trundled after.

Once they were out of earshot, Ben said with no small amount of bitterness, “They think you need protecting from me. I would never hurt you.”

“Not anymore,” Rey clarified, “and I won’t hurt you ever again, either.”

The flare of anger that Rey felt from Ben died as surely as if a shovelful of wet dirt had been poured over it.

Considering that short thread of conversation cut, Rey scooped up her pile of daisies in cupped hands. One of them tumbled to the forest floor. Before she had a chance to pick it up, Ben plucked it from the ground and then stood up.

He loomed over her, blotting out a good portion of orange-red from the setting sun. Rey sat back in the huge shadow he cast. She had ceased to be intimidated by Ben’s strength and size once she realized he had more or less become her friend after his defection from the Order, making those characteristics there to help her rather than harm her.

Ben spun the flower on its stem between his fingers, looking at it and then down at Rey.

“You really don’t remember, do you?” he asked, looking back at the daisy.

Rey raised her eyebrows and tried to hazard a guess as to what he was referring.

Ben tugged on one of the petals, smoothing it but not pulling it off. “With these, you always did know how to make me feel… not all better, but a little less bad.”

Rey sighed and chalked it up to cryptic utterances, just one more unfortunate quirk he had retained from his Kylo Ren persona. She knew she could take a peek at his mind with the Force, but even a surface level skim revealed exactly what was on his face: a steady trickle of sadness turning to a gush. She would ask General Leia later if Ben had some particularly bad memories associated with daisies. If that was the case, Rey reasoned as she stood up, she would have to make some new, better ones.

“Come help me find a few more of these,” she said, indicating the pile of daisies in her hands. “I’ll have enough for two.”

Ben seemed confused by the sentiment up until she had picked enough flowers, strung them together, and offered it to him.

“You can wear white this once,” Rey said, grinning at him. “Now lean down so I can reach.”

Ben allowed himself to be bestowed with the crown after only a few grumbling protests. Rey took a moment to fluff his hair, marveling at the strange prettiness of contrast between it and the flower petals. He gave her an unreadable look and then huffed a thanks, looking sad for a moment more. Rey fluffed his hair more aggressively until he smiled in spite of himself.

She donned her own flower crown and turned homeward--strange how she had begun to think of the military instillation as home--with Ben following. She fully expected him to abandon her and go his own route long before they reached the base, so she was surprised by the continuous plodding footsteps behind her. Still, the familiarity of it felt right in line with his tagalong nature as of late, so she didn’t question it.

Upon entering the base, Rey passed by the general and a group of advisors. Leia looked at Rey with a poor attempt at disguising a smile. Before Rey could wonder why, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind. On instinct, Rey reached up to grab one of them. Then she relaxed. There was no mistaking who the gray-clad arms belonged to. Rey twisted her head around to glance up at Ben. He had his face set in a pout as he stared down Resistance onlookers. The intensity of the brooding expression got diminished somewhat by his flower crown. Whether due to some newly instilled confidence or the token of Rey’s friendship in the form of the crown of daisies or some other third thing, he wasn’t leaving her in the face of the Resistance again.

Rey turned her head to face forward again and snuggled back against him. Ben took the cue and wrapped his arms more thoroughly around her, then rested his chin right where the flower crown met the top of her forehead. His heart beat at a steady, calm tempo against her back.

He didn’t say anything. Not that he needed to. She could feel the steady burn of contentment in his embrace and the Force, further compounded by a rush of warmth from Leia. Rey shut her eyes with a smile, wrapped in a circle of affection and care.


End file.
